Environmental sensing and communication

PRIORITY APPLICATION INFORMATION

0001This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/255,295, filed Oct. 21, 2008, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

0002Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to sensing environmental conditions and communicating sensed information in order to inform users as to conditions that exist that may affect items that are in the area of the sensor.

0003Producers, distributors, warehousers, and quality personnel, among others, especially those in charge of perishable, spoilable, or high-value items that are, for example, moving through a logistics supply chain, may desire to know the condition of items for which their operation is accountable. Also, the customer perception of quality may be of value in some industries and, therefore, the monitoring of products through the supply chain may be used to indicate such quality to a customer base.

0004Further, some entities may be interested in lowering insurance premium costs and the monitoring of products through the supply chain may be one way to reduce such costs. Monitoring the environment of products as they travel is a way of gaining such efficiencies, increasing traceability, and/or of providing for the quality and safety of products which can influence one or more of the above factors, among other benefits.

0005A number of environmental sensing assemblies have been taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,495 “Perishable Product Electronic Label Including Time and Temperature Measurement” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,248,147 “Perishable Product Electronic Label Including Time and Temperature Measurement”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,075 “Environmental Sensing”, all of which are commonly assigned and have at least one common inventor with the present application. One or more embodiments of the present disclosure may improve upon these and other devices, systems, and methods for environmental sensing and communication, in some instances.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a block diagram of a circuit according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a top view of a labeled circuit assembly according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a block diagram illustrating an environmental sensing system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4A</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a number of environmental sensing assemblies prior to formation of a group according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4B</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a number of environmental sensing assemblies after formation of a group according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

0011The present disclosure describes a number of device, system, and method embodiments. For example, some embodiments include an electronic assembly, equipped to sense one or more changes in an environmental condition. In various embodiments, the assembly includes a logic circuit coupled to: an environmental sensor, memory that provides data storage, and a wireless communicator.

0012The logic circuit can, for example, be configured to perform time measurement, perform environmental measurement with the environmental sensor, store time-stamped environmental data in the memory, and/or communicate with particular other electronic assemblies equipped to sense one or more changes in an environmental condition (e.g., via the wireless communicator). The logic circuit is also coupled to a power source that provides power to at least one of the logic circuit and the wireless communicator.

0013In one or more embodiments, the logic circuit can be configured to communicate time-stamped environmental data with the particular other electronic assemblies and/or to a remote reader device (e.g., via the wireless communicator). An electronic assembly (e.g., an environmental sensing assembly) can sense and/or store environmental data and/or communicate that data to other assemblies. Accordingly, in various embodiments, an environmental sensing assembly can receive environmental data transmitted by another assembly.

0014In some embodiments, after an environmental sensing assembly communicates time-stamped environmental data to a remote reader device, a logic circuit associated with the assembly can enter a sleep mode. In sleep mode, the logic circuit can, for example, still be powered at a reduced setting, but not execute instructions and/or communicate via the wireless communicator, in order to preserve the life of a power source, among other benefits.

0015As used herein, “particular other” electronic assemblies can include those electronic assemblies within communication range of the wireless communicator for a particular time, as will be discussed in more detail below. In one or more embodiments, the wireless communicator can, for example, have a communication range greater than 1000 feet. An example of a suitable wireless communicator can be a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, such as the CC1100 available from Texas Instruments, among other types of wireless communicators.

0016In one or more embodiments, an environmental sensing assembly can have an associated assembly identifier. In some instances, the assembly identifier can be the same as a serial number associated with the assembly, although other identifiers can be used and/or assigned. The logic circuit in an electronic assembly can use the wireless communicator to transmit and/or receive assembly identifiers. Such embodiments can be useful to let the logic circuit “know” which other assemblies it is communicating with. This can be beneficial, for example, in grouping data from multiple electronic assemblies.

0017In some embodiments, a logic circuit can receive time-stamped environmental data transmitted along with an assembly identifier from a number of other environmental sensing assemblies (e.g., the particular other assemblies). In some such embodiments, the logic circuit can append an assembly group identifier to the assembly identifier and store the received time-stamped environmental data along with the appended assembly identifiers and, thereby, associating the data into a group. This can aid in allowing more robust data analysis based on multiple assemblies.

0018For example, an environmental sensing assembly, having identifier 0, could receive data from three other assemblies having identifiers 1, 2, and 3. Assembly 0 could append a group assembly identifier X to the assembly identifiers and store data along with the appended identifiers, such as 0X, 1X, 2X, and 3X. Such embodiments can be useful for determining which assembly is associated with certain stored data and to which other sensor the data is related.

0019Environmental data can include temperature, humidity, physical orientation, proximity, acceleration, pressure, molecular compounds, chemical change, shock, vibration, light, as well as other environmental data and combinations thereof. Accordingly, an environmental sensing assembly can include one or more sensors for one or more types of environmental data.

0020One method of environmental sensing and communication provides including a group of environmental sensing assemblies in an environment for sensing, activating the group, and collecting environmental data with the group. Information can be wirelessly communicated between two or more of the environmental sensing assemblies of the group. Such information can include timing information, environmental sensing assembly identifiers, as well as environmental data collected by one or more other environmental sensing assemblies.

0021In some embodiments, one of the environmental assemblies can be assigned as a leader for the group. Environmental data collected by an environmental sensing assembly can be communicated with and stored in memory of the leader. In some instances, a corresponding environmental sensing assembly identifier for an assembly can be communicated with and stored with the environmental data from the assembly. As described herein, a group identifier can be appended to the assembly identifiers for each assembly in the group.

0022The leader can be assigned in various manners such as randomly assigning one assembly as the leader, assigning a leader based on which assembly identifier meets one or more particular criteria with respect to other assembly identifiers, and/or assigning a leader based on which assembly has been active for the greatest and/or least amount of time, among other suitable selection processes. Examples of particular criteria with respect to assembly identifiers can include criteria such as an alphanumerically greatest and/or least identifier, a shortest and/or longest identifier, and/or other criteria.

0023The figures herein follow a numbering convention in which the first digit or digits correspond to the drawing figure number and the remaining digits identify an element or component in the drawing. Similar elements or components between different figures may be identified by the use of similar digits.

0024For example, <b>110</b> may reference element “<b>10</b>” in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>, and a similar element may be referenced as <b>210</b> in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>. As will be appreciated, elements shown in the various embodiments herein can be added, exchanged, and/or eliminated to provide a number of additional embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, as will be appreciated the proportion and the relative scale of the elements provided in the figures are intended to illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure, and should not be taken in a limiting sense.

0025<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> is a block diagram of a circuit according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The circuit illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref> can be associated with an environmental sensing assembly <b>100</b>. The terms “environmental sensing assembly” and “electronic assembly” may be used interchangeably herein. In some instances, an “environmental sensing assembly” or “electronic assembly” may be referred to as an “assembly” for sake of brevity.

0026Embodiments of the present disclosure can be utilized to provide a simple to use, low-cost, accurate, disposable, and/or re-usable device(s) as an element of a monitoring system. Assembly embodiments, for example, can be a tag, label, or an assembly that is built into a package, among other suitable embodiments for monitoring environmental conditions.

0027One or more embodiments may include a logic circuit <b>102</b> such as a controller, a microprocessor, a micro-controller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like. The logic circuit <b>102</b> may be interfaced with a program memory <b>104</b> configured to provide storage of a set of computer executable instructions in the form of software, firmware, and/or hardware that at least partially provides functionality. Thus, the functionality described with respect to various software-based embodiments is also applicable to hardware-based embodiments, and conversely.

0028The interfaced program memory <b>104</b> and/or data memory <b>106</b> may be implemented as one of, or a combination of, volatile and non-volatile memory, such as random access memory (“RAM”), EEPROM, Flash memory, or the like. It is also within the purview of the present disclosure that the memory may be included in the logic circuit <b>102</b> and/or program and data memory may be provided together in a single memory source or may be provided together on multiple sources.

0029In some embodiments, the logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to data memory <b>106</b>. In one or more embodiments, data memory <b>106</b> can store data that is accumulated by the assembly <b>100</b>, such as time and/or environmental condition data or a combination thereof (e.g., time-stamped environmental data). In some embodiments, this information can be provided to a database via a reader device (e.g., a remote reader device) that is not contained within the assembly <b>100</b> (e.g., a database on a server with a web portal for access by a number of clients).

0030Embodiments of the present disclosure can utilize memory compression techniques that allow a device to store more information. For example, a number of methods for memory compression associated with environmental sensing assemblies are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,075, entitled “Environmental Sensing,” to Thomas Jensen, et al. Such compression techniques are not described in more detail herein so as not to obscure embodiments of the present disclosure.

0031In various embodiments, the logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to one or more environmental sensors <b>108</b>. In some embodiments, executable instructions can be provided that are executable by a logic circuit <b>102</b> to take an environmental measurement at a predetermined time interval. In various embodiments, executable instructions can be provided that are executable by the logic circuit <b>102</b> to take an average of a number of such environmental measurements. These averages can, for example, be calculated through use of a number of sets of environmental measurements. Such embodiments can be useful to help reduce power consumption by operation of one or more sensors and/or to help reduce consumption of available storage space in memory, among other benefits.

0032The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to a clock <b>110</b>. It is also within the purview of the present disclosure that the clock <b>110</b> may be included in the logic circuit <b>102</b>. The clock <b>110</b> can be used by the logic circuit to perform time measurement, among other functions.

0033The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to a wireless communicator <b>112</b>. The wireless communicator <b>112</b> can include an infrared and/or radio frequency modulation circuit, in some embodiments.

0034The wireless communicator <b>112</b> can be coupled to an antenna <b>114</b>. Some purposes of the hardware described herein, for example, can be to provide mechanisms for sensing environmental variables, performing storage of measured data, performing processing of the measured data (e.g., under embedded software control), communicating environmental data, providing display indications, and/or providing download and/or offload capability of processed data.

0035The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to one or more physical contact points <b>116</b>. Physical contact points <b>116</b> can be suitable for contacting with an external probe device, for example a reader device, and can be located within the assembly or can be positioned for contact with or without penetration into the assembly, in various embodiments.

0036Physical contact points <b>116</b> can be used for electrical communication between the assembly <b>100</b> and another device, such as a reader device. In one or more embodiments, one or more of the contact points <b>116</b> can be coupled to power source <b>122</b> to provide power to the power source <b>122</b> from, for example, a reader device. Such embodiments can be useful in recharging and/or supplementing the power source <b>122</b>.

0037The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to one or more indicators <b>118</b>. For example, the indicators <b>118</b> can, in some embodiments, include a number of indicating Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that can be visible from an exterior of the assembly <b>100</b>.

0038Such indicators <b>118</b> can, for example, be arranged to indicate an upper, a middle, and a lower light as indicators <b>118</b>. In such a configuration, the upper indicator can serve as an over limit status indicator, the lower indicator as an under limit status indicator, and the center indicator can serve as an OK status indicator. As discussed herein, other types of display indicators <b>118</b> can be used in various embodiments and the indicators can be any suitable indicating mechanism.

0039Various embodiments can utilize a chemical change to provide a portion of or the entire indicator <b>118</b> functionality of the assembly <b>100</b>. For example, an electro-chemical component can be used to provide at least some indicator <b>118</b> functionality, in some embodiments.

0040The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be configured to initiate an alarm status when a calculated alarm event occurs based upon measured time and environmental data and/or received environmental data (e.g., from other environmental sensing assemblies). The alarm status, for example, can be signaled by indicators <b>118</b> (e.g., by illuminating, flashing, other otherwise operating LEDs, among other processes). A calculated alarm event can occur, for example, when environmental data exceeds a particular range (e.g., when a temperature rises above a certain threshold), among other alert events.

0041In some embodiments, an alarm status can be transmitted by wireless communicator <b>112</b> and/or by physical contact points <b>116</b> to another environmental sensing assembly and/or to a reader device. Whether transmitted by wireless communicator <b>112</b>, physical contact points <b>116</b>, or indicated by indicators <b>118</b>, an alarm status can be beneficial in alerting users to particular environmental conditions that may require attention.

0042The logic circuit <b>102</b> can be coupled to an activation mechanism <b>120</b>. Activation mechanism <b>120</b> can be provided by a number of possible circuits and constructions, including ones that include a breakaway tab switch, a pull-tab switch, an infrared switch, a magnetic switch, an electromagnetic switch, a radio frequency resonant switch, or a pushbutton momentary switch, among other mechanism types. For example, with respect to a pushbutton momentary switch or a pull-tab switch, activation can be accomplished by a user physically activating the circuit. In some embodiments, a transmitting device (e.g., wireless communicator <b>112</b>) can be used to remotely accomplish the activation (e.g., by one or more radio frequency (RF) signals).

0043As stated above, the environmental sensing assembly <b>100</b> can include a power source <b>122</b> coupled to a number of components of the assembly <b>100</b>, such as the logic circuit <b>102</b>, environmental sensor <b>108</b>, wireless communicator <b>112</b>, physical contact points <b>116</b>, and indicators <b>118</b>, among others. In some embodiments, the power source <b>122</b> can be a coin-cell type power source. In one or more embodiments, the power source <b>122</b> can be a rechargeable battery power source.

0044<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref> is a top view of a labeled circuit assembly according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. In one or more embodiments, the environmental sensing assembly <b>200</b> can include a protective cover <b>230</b> at least partially surrounding the assembly (e.g., including the environmental sensor, memory, wireless communicator, logic circuit, and power source, among other components). In various embodiments, the pouch <b>234</b> can be as small as or smaller than about 8.0 centimeters by 5.5 centimeters by 0.2 centimeters.

0045In some embodiments, the cover <b>230</b> can be made larger such that it can be folded to cover both the front and the back of the environmental sensing assembly <b>200</b>. In various embodiments, an area of the cover <b>230</b> can be printed with legend information (e.g., text and/or symbols) that identifies what the one or more indicators <b>218</b> signify.

0046In some embodiments, a graphic label <b>232</b> can be constructed (e.g., from plastic and/or paper film, etc.). The label <b>232</b> can be fabricated from any suitable material including translucent or opaque materials and can be provided as a clear or semi-clear material with overprinting thereon, in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the graphic label <b>232</b> can include printed features on its surface.

0047Some embodiments utilize a transparent, semi-transparent, or opaque pouch <b>234</b> that forms an outer layer over the environmental sensing assembly <b>200</b> (e.g., including the protective cover <b>230</b> and graphic label <b>232</b> if so equipped). The pouch <b>234</b> can be of any suitable material and can be sealed permanently or resealably in any suitable manner.

0048For instance the pouch <b>234</b> can be heat-sealed, glued, or have a physical sealing structure formed from the pouch material. Examples, of such materials include, but are not limited to materials including plastics, vinyls, polystyrenes, and other such materials. For instance, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one suitable plastic material for use with food.

0049Such pouches <b>234</b> can be designed to meet industry standards, such as food safety standards. As defined herein a food safety standard can be any standard created by an entity (e.g., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to regulate usage with food. In this way, if the pouch <b>234</b> is sealed, the pouch <b>234</b> may be approved for use (e.g., as safe for placement adjacent to food) while the contents do not have to be approved.

0050In some embodiments, the exterior of the pouch can meet such a requirement, while the interior may or may not meet a requirement. This case can save significant time and money since the manufacturer does not have to gain approval of the assembly <b>200</b> to be placed within the pouch <b>234</b>, in some instances, among other benefits.

0051In embodiments that utilize one or more illuminating indicators <b>218</b>, such as LEDs, the indicators can illuminate printed lenses, for example, from behind or from the side. The legend information associated with the indicators (e.g., “over temp,” “OK,” “under temp” as illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 2</figref>), can be modified to suit programmed measurement and/or alert parameters.

0052Embodiments can also include other graphic elements such as a logo, target product identification area, an activation break point graphic, and/or a temperature limit graphic, among others. The logo and target product identification area, as well as the temperature limit graphic can be used, for example, to supply a package, tag, or label with a unique graphic that is matched to the parameters that are programmed into a logic circuit's program memory and/or data memory.

0053In various embodiments, the tag or label device may also be inserted into a packaging material. Various packaging and manufacturing methods are described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,075, entitled “Environmental Sensing,” by Thomas Jensen, et al.

0054<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref> is a block diagram illustrating an environmental sensing system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The system <b>340</b> can include a number of electronic assemblies (e.g., environmental sensing assemblies). In some instances, the system <b>340</b> can include a number of groups of environmental sensing assemblies. For example, group <b>350</b>-<b>1</b> includes assemblies <b>300</b>-<b>11</b>, <b>300</b>-<b>21</b>, . . . , <b>300</b>-N<b>1</b>, and <b>300</b>-L<b>1</b>; group <b>350</b>-<b>2</b> includes assemblies <b>300</b>-<b>12</b>, <b>300</b>-<b>22</b>, . . . , <b>300</b>-N<b>2</b>, and <b>300</b>-L<b>2</b>; and group <b>350</b>-M includes assemblies <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M, <b>300</b>-<b>2</b>M, . . . , <b>300</b>-NM.

0055As used herein, the designators “N” and “M,” particularly with respect to reference numerals in the drawings, indicate that a number of the particular feature so designated can be included with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, <b>300</b>-N<b>1</b> indicates that a number of environmental sensing assemblies can be included in the group. As used herein the designator “L” indicates that the assembly as been assigned as a leader for the group to which it belongs.

0056As discussed above, the environmental sensing assemblies can include a logic circuit coupled to an environmental sensor and a wireless communicator. The logic circuit can be encoded with an assembly identifier, as described herein, and can be configured to measure time and/or environmental data, periodically transmit time-stamped environmental data via the wireless communicator along with the assembly identifier, and determine a group to include those electronic assemblies from which transmissions are received during a period of time.

0057In some embodiments, the period of time can be specified and hard coded into one or more environmental sensing assemblies. In various embodiments, the period of time can be factory and/or user programmable.

0058One of the electronic assemblies in a group can be assigned as a leader for the group. As illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>, assembly <b>300</b>-L<b>1</b> has been assigned as the leader for group <b>350</b>-<b>1</b> and assembly <b>300</b>-L<b>2</b> has been assigned as the leader of group <b>350</b>-<b>2</b>. Embodiments are not limited to groups having an assigned leader, as illustrated by group <b>350</b>-M, which does not have an assigned leader.

0059A logic circuit of an environmental sensing assembly can be configured to store time-stamped environmental data in memory. When assigned as the leader of a group, the logic circuit of an environmental sensing assembly can store time-stamped environmental data along with assembly identifiers received from one or more of the other electronic assemblies of the group. In some embodiments, the leader can append a group identifier to the received assembly identifiers to indicate both a group and an assembly that corresponds to stored and/or transmitted environmental data.

0060The leader (e.g., leader <b>300</b>-L<b>2</b>) can communicate environmental data and/or assembly/group identifiers for one or more assemblies in the group (e.g., assemblies <b>300</b>-<b>12</b>, <b>300</b>-<b>22</b>, . . . , <b>300</b>-N<b>2</b>, and <b>300</b>-L<b>2</b>) to a remote reader device <b>360</b>. For groups that do not have an assigned leader (e.g., group <b>350</b>-M), one or more environmental sensing assemblies of the group (e.g., assemblies <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M, <b>300</b>-<b>2</b>M, . . . , <b>300</b>-NM) can communicate time-stamped environmental data and assembly identifiers to the remote reader device <b>360</b>.

0061The system <b>340</b> can also include one or more remote reader devices <b>360</b>. The remote reader device <b>360</b> can include a logic circuit <b>302</b>-R, program and/or data memory <b>304</b>/<b>306</b>-R, a wireless communicator <b>312</b>-R, and a physical contact point (e.g., a physical contact port) <b>316</b>-R. As used herein the designator “R” indicates a component associated with the remote reader device <b>360</b>.

0062A remote reader device <b>360</b> can include a microcontroller as the logic circuit <b>302</b>-R. The microcontroller can include internal memory storing executable instructions, and/or interface with program and/or data memory <b>304</b>/<b>306</b>-R. Instructions can be executed to transmit a download request signal (e.g., to one or more environmental sensing assemblies). In response, an environmental sensing assembly, or a leader of a group of environmental sensing assemblies, can transmit time-stamped environmental data along with assembly identifiers to the remote reader device <b>360</b>. In some instances, the assembly identifiers can be appended assembly identifiers, particularly when being transmitted by a leader of a group.

0063The remote reader device <b>360</b> can store the received data and identifiers in its internal memory <b>304</b>/<b>306</b>-R. In some instances, the time-stamped environmental data can be segregated for each group according to the appended assembly identifiers.

0064In some embodiments, the remote reader device <b>360</b> can be configured to communicate data with an environmental sensing assembly and/or a computing device <b>370</b> using one or more of the wireless communicator <b>312</b>-R and/or the physical contact point (e.g., physical communication port) <b>316</b>-R. For example, the physical communication port <b>316</b>-R can be a USB port with an associated driver, among other types of communications linking mechanisms.

0065The remote reader device <b>360</b> can be configured to wirelessly download data from one or more assemblies and/or groups of electronic assemblies via the wireless communicator <b>312</b>-R. For example, the remote reader device <b>360</b> can communicate with a leader to download data for the entire group and/or communicate with each assembly in the group individually. Some wireless embodiments of an assembly and reader can be usable at short range and/or at long range. For example, some such embodiments can utilize portable device communication formats (e.g., GSM, ANSI, etc.) to communication information to and/or from the assembly.

0066These communication mechanisms can be based upon established standards, such as IEEE 802.11, or based upon other radio communication technologies. The wireless mechanisms associated with the environmental sensing assembly may also participate in a networked (e.g., mesh network) or similar interface scheme to communicate with the remote reader device. These types of networks may fall within IEEE 802.15.4 standards development, 13 MHz, or UHF forms of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), among others.

0067A physical contact point <b>316</b>-R associated with a remote reader device <b>360</b> can also receive communications (e.g., time-stamped environmental data) from an environmental sensing assembly (e.g., assembly <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M). The communication functionality described herein, with the exception of specific wireless and/or physical capabilities (e.g., the wireless communicator can communicate wirelessly, while the physical contact point can allow for communication via physical contact), can generally be accomplished via either or both of the wireless communicator and/or physical contact points and should not be limited to either.

0068For example, the remote reader device <b>360</b> can be brought into physical contact with an environmental sensing assembly (e.g., assembly <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M) via the physical contact point <b>316</b>-R to communicate with the same. Some embodiments can be useful to allow communications with an assembly that does not include wireless capabilities (e.g., embodiments of the present disclosure can be “backward compatible), or to communicate with assemblies that have lost wireless capability (e.g., due to malfunction, a dead power source, etc.).

0069Furthermore, the logic circuit (e.g., logic circuit <b>102</b> illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 1</figref>) of an environmental sensing assembly (e.g., assembly <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M) can be configured to communicate an alarm status, as described herein, to a remote reader device <b>360</b> via the respective wireless communicators (e.g., wireless communicator <b>312</b> associated with the remote reader device and a wireless communicator associated with the assembly).

0070In one or more embodiments, the wireless communicator <b>302</b>-R of the remote reader device <b>360</b> and the wireless communicators of the environmental sensing assemblies (e.g., assembly <b>300</b>-<b>1</b>M) can be configured to provide a seamless link layer protocol of communication. The remote reader device <b>360</b> and the logic circuit of the environmental sensing assemblies can include communication algorithms to operate their respective wireless communicators using forward error correction, re-transmission capability, channel hopping based on clear channel assessment, and/or spread spectrum transmission.

0071In one or more embodiments, spread spectrum transmission can include frequency-hopping spread spectrum and/or direct-sequence spread spectrum. Frequency-hopping spread spectrum can include switching among multiple frequency channels such that a number of assemblies communicate on a particular channel at a particular time, and then on another channel at another time. Direct-sequence spread spectrum can allow sharing of a single channel among multiple different assemblies communicating at substantially the same time.

0072In some embodiments, communication algorithms can include the use of channel hopping based on clear channel assessment. That is, a number of assemblies can communicate on a particular channel at a particular time, and then switch to another channel when the other channel does is not communicating other traffic. The use of these, and other suitable communication algorithms, can aid in establishing and/or maintaining substantially interference-free communications, among other benefits.

0073Wireless communication links can be in any suitable format. For example, an electro-magnetic (EM) communicator can be employed in a remote reader device <b>360</b> to form a communication link to send a pulse or series of pulses to an EM receiver via an antenna (e.g., a coil type antenna) thereby utilizing an EM channel.

0074The transmitting and/or receiving functionality of a communicator can be provided by one or more transmitters, receivers, and/or transceivers. Although described generally as EM and/or RF transmitters and/or receivers, it is to be understood that any suitable wireless and/or wired communication mechanisms can be utilized in various embodiments of the present disclosure.

0075An EM channel can operate at close range and can be used to initiate an upload of data, for example, telling the environmental sensing assembly to begin transmitting data via a wireless communicator and/or antenna to a remote reader's wireless communicator <b>312</b>-R (e.g., via its antenna). In such embodiments, the remote reader device can receive and process the data using its logic circuit <b>302</b>-R. Assemblies can also be designed to transmit processed data to a remote reader device <b>360</b> via a wireless hub, in some embodiments.

0076The system <b>340</b> can include one or more computing devices <b>370</b>. The computing device <b>370</b> can include a logic circuit <b>302</b>-C, program and/or data memory <b>304</b>/<b>306</b>-C, a wireless communicator <b>312</b>-C, and a physical contact point (e.g., a physical communication port) <b>316</b>-C. As used herein, the designator “C” indicates a component associated with the computing device <b>370</b>.

0077The computing device <b>370</b> can be remote to the remote reader device <b>360</b> and/or to a number of environmental sensing assemblies. The computing device <b>370</b> can include a physical communication port that corresponds to a physical communication port of the remote reader device. In one or more embodiments, the computing device <b>370</b> can include a driver to download data from the remote reader device <b>360</b>.

0078In one or more embodiments, the computing device <b>370</b> can be a personal computer, a laptop computer, a server, and/or a dedicated database computer, among other computing devices. The computing device <b>370</b> can include a processor (e.g., logic circuit <b>302</b>-C), memory (e.g., program and/or data memory <b>304</b>/<b>306</b>-C), and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to analyze the data from the remote reader device <b>360</b>.

0079As remote reader devices gather the data from environmental sensing assemblies, the readers, in turn, can communicate the data and/or files to computing devices (e.g., databases and/or other storage locations). In some embodiments, this can be accomplished via another type of data device. For example, the system <b>340</b> can include a standalone gateway, hub, router, and/or other type of computing device, such as a personal computer, portable computing device, or server type computing device.

0080These devices can communicate with remote reader devices by way of wired and/or wireless interfaces, including Internet and/or other connection types. Through these connections, environmental data and/or assembly identifiers can be forwarded to one or more computing devices for storage and/or analysis, among other functions.

0081In such embodiments, a gateway or hub device can be situated, for example, in a warehouse, on a pier, or in an industrial area and perform its function without utilizing additional local information technology infrastructure. This can represent added value, for example, for users who do not wish to upgrade their existing computer and IT equipment.

0082Embodiments including computing devices <b>370</b> and remote reader devices <b>360</b> can be useful for providing a snapshot of environmental data sensed by a number of environmental sensing assemblies to a shipping technician operating a remote reader device <b>360</b>, for example. The computing device <b>370</b> can be useful for performing a more in-depth analysis of the environmental data (e.g., by food scientists). Embodiments are not limited to these examples.

0083One or more embodiments including multiple groups can be useful in helping to segregate sensed environmental data into groups. For example, each group may represent environmental sensing assemblies that have gone through different supply chains, possibly exposed to different environmental conditions. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, one, or a few, remote reader devices <b>360</b> can be used to collect environmental data from the groups. The groups, including environmental sensing assembly identifiers, possibly including assembly identifiers appended with a group identifier, can be beneficial in segregating data by group, for example, so that a user can associate various indicated alerts, or other environmental data, with an appropriate group (e.g., assemblies in the same transport vehicle or container).

0084Using one, or few, remote reader devices to collect environmental data from a number of groups of environmental sensing assemblies can be beneficial in helping to reduce work time and to control costs for shipping/receiving entities. For example, one remote reader device could be used to wirelessly gather environmental data from a number of groups of environmental sensing assemblies in range at one time. Such efficiency can reduce person-hours as well as costs associated with using multiple readers and/or using a single reader separately for each group.

0085<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4A</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a number of environmental sensing assemblies prior to formation of a group according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. An illustration of the range of a wireless communicator associated with an assembly <b>400</b> in environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> is illustrated by radius <b>490</b>. Accordingly, circumferential area <b>495</b> illustrates an area in which assembly <b>400</b> can communicate with other devices such as other environmental sensing assemblies, remote reader devices, etc. In the example scenario illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4A</figref>, each environmental sensing assembly <b>400</b> in each environment <b>480</b>-<b>1</b>, <b>480</b>-<b>2</b>, . . . , <b>480</b>-T is within range of assembly <b>400</b>.

0086Four environmental sensing assemblies <b>400</b> are illustrated in each of a number of environments for sensing (e.g., trucks) <b>480</b>-<b>1</b>, <b>480</b>-<b>2</b>, . . . , <b>480</b>-T. The scenario illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4A</figref> can represent a loading area (e.g., dock, freighter, etc.) with a number of environments (e.g., trucks, shipping containers, crates, etc.) <b>480</b>-<b>1</b>, <b>480</b>-<b>2</b>, . . . , <b>480</b>-T. As goods (e.g., environmentally sensitive products) are loaded into the environments <b>480</b>-<b>1</b>, <b>480</b>-<b>2</b>, . . . , <b>480</b>-T, a number of environmental sensing assemblies <b>400</b> can be activated. After activation, the assemblies <b>400</b> can begin sensing and storing environmental data, as well as communicating with other assemblies. For example, the assemblies <b>400</b> can transmit an assembly identifier and/or environmental data.

0087As described herein, a logic circuit associated with an assembly <b>400</b> can determine a group to include those electronic assemblies <b>400</b> from which transmissions are received for a period of time. In some embodiments, the period of time may be greater than two hours, although embodiments are not limited to a particular period of time. The period of time can, for example, begin running with activation of one or more environmental sensing assemblies <b>400</b>.

0088For example, one or more assemblies <b>400</b> to be loaded into one or more environments for sensing (e.g., along with environmentally sensitive products) and activated. The period of time can allow for the one or more environments to disperse into various shipping routes so that groups do not form between assemblies associated with different shipping routes, for example. An example of such is illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4B</figref>.

0089As described herein, the period of time can be user programmable. Such embodiments can be useful to allow different users to set different periods according to their shipping needs. For example, a particular user may have certain periods of time between loading and shipping associated with their industry.

0090Accordingly, the particular user may wish to program the certain period of time into their assemblies to allow sufficient delay for group formation. For example, if the manufacturing facility or the user knows that it typically takes four hours to leave a loading dock after product has been loaded, they may wish to program a period of time that is four hours or longer into the appropriate assemblies.

0091Likewise, a particular user may have different load/ship times during different shipping seasons (e.g., holiday rush). It is appreciated other scenarios and benefits that can be had by use of programmable periods of time for group formation.

0092In some embodiments, one or more logic circuits associated with environmental sensing assemblies can detect a group based on when it is receiving transmissions from a particular number, greater than a particular number, or less than a particular number of other assemblies. For example, a particular user may use a certain number of environmental sensing assemblies (e.g., four) with each environment (e.g., shipment), and may program their assemblies to form a group when the assemblies are receiving transmissions from the certain number (e.g., four) of other assemblies. Alternatively, the assemblies can be programmed such that they form a group when receiving transmissions from less than five other assemblies (e.g., an assembly may receive transmissions from a larger number of assemblies while in a shipping warehouse, but after departure may only receive transmissions from those assemblies within the same shipping container).

0093In one or more embodiments, a group can be defined based on a combination of an elapsed period of time and a particular number of assemblies from which transmissions are received. For example, a user could program a typical ship/load time of two hours as the period of time.

0094The user could also program “less than five” as a condition for group formation (e.g., if the user typically uses four assemblies per shipment). Accordingly, a group of environmental sensing assemblies can be formed at least two hours after activation (e.g., at loading), when the assemblies are receiving transmissions from fewer than five other assemblies. Embodiments are not limited to the specific examples given herein.

0095In some embodiments, once a group of environmental sensing assemblies has been formed, the assemblies contained therein will not accept data transmitted from assemblies that are not in the group. Such embodiments can be useful in preventing data corruption for the group. For example, such embodiments can help prevent a group from recording environmental data transmitted by assemblies that are not part of the group, but come within transmission range of the group at some point during shipment (e.g., trucks at a truck stop or in a convoy).

0096<figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4B</figref> is a block diagram illustrating a number of environmental sensing assemblies after formation of a group according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> from <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4A</figref> is illustrated out of range <b>490</b> of other environments containing assemblies <b>400</b>. <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4B</figref> can reflect a status of environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> after the period of time has elapsed.

0097Accordingly, environmental sensing assembly <b>400</b>-L has been assigned leader of group <b>450</b>. Group <b>450</b> has been determined to include those assemblies <b>400</b> from which transmissions are received for the period of time (e.g., received by assembly <b>400</b>-L). As will be appreciated, the group <b>450</b> can include those assemblies <b>400</b> that are within range <b>490</b> of a particular other assembly, e.g., assembly <b>400</b>-L. In the example illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 4B</figref>, the assemblies <b>400</b> of the group <b>450</b> are located within a same environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> (e.g., a same shipping container).

0098A remote reader device (e.g., remote reader device <b>360</b> illustrated in <figref idref="DRAWINGS">FIG. 3</figref>) can download data from the group (e.g., from the leader <b>400</b>-L, which can receive, store, and/or transmit environmental data for each assembly <b>400</b> in the group <b>450</b>) while the environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> (e.g., shipping container) remains sealed. As described herein, such data can be communicated wirelessly (e.g., using one or more wireless communicators).

0099Such embodiments can be useful for making a determination of whether to accept a particular shipment. For example, a shipping technician can use a remote reader device to download environmental data from a group leader <b>400</b>-L.

0100Such data can indicate whether the environment <b>480</b>-<b>2</b> has been preserved according to a specification for the environmentally sensitive products contained within the environment. The ability to make such a determination without contacting or breaking a seal of an environment (e.g., shipping container) can reduce liability for shipments of spoiled goods, for example. A copending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/255,322, having at least one inventor in common, entitled “Environmental Data Collection,” describes a number of methods of displaying such environmental data on a remote reader device such that an individual (e.g., a shipping technician) can quickly make a determination as to the quality of a shipment of environmentally sensitive products.

0101Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same techniques can be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover adaptations or variations of various embodiments of the disclosure. It is to be understood that the above description has been made in an illustrative fashion, and not a restrictive one.

0102Combination of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the various embodiments of the disclosure includes various other applications in which the above structures and methods are used. Therefore, the scope of various embodiments of the disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

0103Additionally, in reading this disclosure and claims, it should be noted that the indefinite article “a” or “an”, as it is used herein, is not intended to limit the number of elements to one. Accordingly, the terms “a” and “an” should be viewed as meaning one or more unless such limitation is expressly stated or such meaning would be illogical based upon the arrangement of elements formed by such meaning. Further, the term “a number of” should be interpreted as meaning one or more.

0104In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the embodiments of the disclosure require more features than are expressly recited in each claim.

0105Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.